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Vanencara Nortaro
Vanencara Nortaro, known officially and to most of her acquaintances as Vanencara Adrevis is a turian criminal leader within the Nortaro Cartel and an explorer under the employ of the Holun-Myeri Exploratory Fund. Biography Sins of the Father Vanencara’s background begins long before her birth. In 2141, specifically, when a young, but talented turian farmer by the name of Hactinius Nortaro had the bright idea to get involved in the drug business. Having moved to the relatively poor colony of Triginta Petra with his parents at a young age, Hactinius had always dreamed of making his humble colony the crown jewel of Hierarchy space - a naive and barely possible, but noble goal. Having learned many impressive farming techniques from his parents, he took over the family’s farming business when his father died of an unexpected stroke and gradually managed to transform the farm from one of the small colony’s most important food producers into the heart of a secretive drug business, producing mainly Minagen X3 on its vast fields of minagia, a crop which grows remarkably well in the unique Trigintan soil. As Hactinius’ power was steadily growing, his and his wife Arala’s first child was born - Vana’s older brother, Givinus, and two years later, Vanencara followed. Early Childhood Despite her brother always somehow being the favorite child, Vaña received a lot of love in her early childhood. With endless acres of warm, flat grassland to play in, multiple homes across a vast, sparsely populated planet, and wealthy, loving parents, what else could a child possibly need? Maybe a sense of security would have been yet another bonus - and the family was working hard to get mercenaries and crime cartels off their backs - but after all, you can’t have everything. Exporting their products across almost the entirety of the inhabited systems, the family’s largely illegal operations, being situated right in the middle of the Terminus Systems, gained quite some attention from a whole share of mercenary organizations. Most often, their enemies could simply be strategically paid off, however, seeing as the Nortaro family’s business was still among the minor drug producers on a galactic scale, and organizations like the Vengeful Spirits and the Blue Suns had far more important things to deal with. Unsurprisingly, the Council was barely bothered by the family’s businesses, too, and for the most time, actual law enforcement was one of the few problems Nortaro didn’t have to deal with. Still, the constant safety precautions put a great deal of stress on Vaña’s parents, and financial strain on the family’s money reserves. Whenever they paid one organization to leave the colony alone, another one came knocking at their door, from time to time workers even vanished only to be returned after the payment of a fine, but the children, fortunately, barely got wind of the real situation, and over time, even began to find the hazardous atmosphere exciting. However, aside from the stress, eternally balancing between the killers of the mercenary groups created a whole share of other problems for the children, most of them somehow being taken care of by their parents. The lack of education was remedied by private teachers for the two, their safety was ensured by implanted microchips transmitting their location, public service was out of the question anyway, although their 15th birthdays were still quite a while away, and friends - well, they had each other. Naturally, Vanencara and Givinus were best friends, staying together at every occasion, however, as they grew older, their parents’ favoritism for Givi became more and more apparent. After all, only one of the two could lead the family’s business at some point - and the one they had chosen was obviously the older brother. Among the family and its associates, Givinus’ position as the heir of the family business was self-evident, while Vaña was just ‘the daughter’. As the siblings were growing into their teens, their parents slowly introduced Givi to his responsibilities, beginning to teach him whatever he needed to know to lead the business, and Vaña was left to sit in the background. Naturally, the relationship between the two siblings worsened, especially since Vaña knew critical voices were arguing that Givinus wasn’t, in fact, the heir they had wanted him to be, doubting his abilities as a “businessman”. He was too slow of a learner, too scared to make impactful decisions, too soft to negotiate with business partners… Dastardly Daughter Believing herself to be much better qualified than her brother, Vaña ultimately tried to come up with a plan to convince her parents to stop wasting their efforts on her brother, or otherwise get rid of him, which is why, in late 2170, Givinus Nortaro disappeared when meeting a friend in Licitron, after an anonymous informant had given his position away to the Blue Suns. Presenting the perfect tool to get the Nortaro family under control, Givi was taken off world, the tracker in his arm stopping soon after his captors left the system. Left with no other option, the family had to strike a painful deal, that, some would argue, actually worked in favor of the family in the end. Givinus would be returned unharmed if the Nortaros would accept the Blue Suns as their patrons, letting 75% of their revenue flow directly into the Suns’ pockets in return for protection against other harmful organizations, and, should the need ever arise, law enforcement. It was a massive bunch of money, but considering the protection fees the family was paying every week, it surprisingly wasn’t much of a change. And so, Givi returned, after just over a week of negotiations, crying and trembling and shouting, but physically barely looking worse for wear, supposedly not much different from how he had acted in custody of the Suns, even though they claimed to have treated him relatively ‘generously’. After all, who would hurt the kid who immediately offered to reveal anything he knew about the family, just to gain his freedom again? Either way, Vaña had achieved her goal, and even if she felt somewhat guilty for what she had done to Givi and her parents' financial situation, she was convinced it would benefit them in the long run. Her father was finally convinced Givinus wasn’t in any position to lead the family’s business, no matter how many years it would take until the need arose. The young turian was sent away to his aunt on Oma Ker to be kept safe and out of the way, and Vanencara was destined to be the business’s future leader, but it would take her a few more years to actually understand what she had gotten herself into. Either way, she didn’t complain about her father’s decision to send her brother away. During the past months, she had gotten sick of him, partially out of jealousy and partially because she felt like the family deserved a better heir, so, for the moment, she couldn’t be happier. Some sympathy for Givi was there, but that would soon subside, she thought. Heiress Apparent A few months later, her father started taking her to meetings and video conferences, mostly with less important business partners, sometimes with subordinates, and sometimes with the Blue Suns. After each one of them, he would repeat the same lessons, teaching her about the importance of asserting dominance over subordinates, conveying seriousness when working with equally powerful partners, and giving superiors a feeling of loyalty. Soon, the young turian was taught how to manage income and expense, and over time, she was introduced to more and more of the family’s farms, laboratories, collaborators, trade routes, and secrets. Vaña was a fast learner - much faster than her brother, that’s what her father always told her, but she never really believed it. The boring technicalities of the ‘profession’ were necessary, sure, but she found them to be immensely boring. Vaña wanted to do things herself instead of telling a subordinate to inspect the laboratories, hire employees, purchase vehicles, and as soon as her father began to give her actual duties and power, that’s exactly what she did. While Hactinius was pretty much sitting on his ass all day, she ran the errands - really only the interesting errands, but errands nonetheless, and he couldn’t complain. After all, there was barely anyone he could trust as much as his own daughter. But he wasn’t entirely right there. Vaña didn’t agree with many of his actions and tactics, and she told him, but the result was always that “Father knows what’s best for the business.” The older she got the more she understood that the business had so much more potential that Hactinius either didn’t care, or didn’t know how to use. The endless possibilities for expansion were one point, with millions of acres of dirt cheap land on Triginta Petra, but his faults reached right down to his employees. He knew how to assert dominance, but not how to enforce it, so people stole. And they stole a lot - rarely with a lot of repercussions. If the boss doesn’t find out who stole - who cares? So Vaña made it her personal mission to solve the problems her father ignored, preferably without him knowing until results could be presented. To start off, she scouted the labs during her inspections, picking out one or two reliable workers that would receive a little extra pay to serve as informants. And obviously, the things the workers didn’t tell their managers, they told each other, so it didn’t take long for the reports to come in. The first thieves would return to their labs beaten up to set an example - the ones who were still brave enough to snatch some of the produce didn’t return at all. And guess what? Within a matter of weeks, the family’s revenue increased by a couple percent. Her father was somewhat conflicted when he got wind of what was happening. His daughter’s tactics were ruthless, sure, but he couldn’t deny they got things done. And so, he made Vanencara something he called his ‘Internal Enforcement Manager’. It basically meant he was making the decisions, and she made sure everyone stuck to them. It was a welcome development, but of course, things still bothered her- most importantly of all, the Blue Suns’ invisible hand constantly taking and taking and taking, much more than they were giving back in the form of protection. So, the family had two options - either get the Suns to drastically lower their demands, or kick them out and drum up their own band of mercenaries. But that would take a lot more time. Right now, Vaña didn’t have nearly enough power to enforce something like that on her own, and, naturally, her father was too afraid of them to act. Either way, for the time being, the family earned more than enough to get by until the time was right. Removing the Shackles... In the following years, Vaña became ever more proficient in her area of expertise, and business was steadily growing, although, of course, most of the revenue still went towards the Suns. However, something of a turning point came in 2181, one that had initially seemed like a positive development for the family’s business. Having managed to convince her father to found what was in its essence a subsidiary company, Vaña had moved away from home and to a large property on Illium, a couple dozen kilometers outside of Nos Astra to start the first phase of her Suns-independence plan, and had taken a small part of Triginta Petra’s staff with her. Within just over two years, she had transformed the property into something that was both a place of residence, and a hub for the new drug distribution operations she had been planning. A small smuggling route between Triginta Petra and Illium was established to move a decent chunk of the family’s produce somewhere Vaña didn’t expect the watchful eyes of the Blue Suns to reach, and distribute it among the streets of Nos Astra. It was a massive success during the first few months. Vanencara sold her products with, compared to the Suns’ usual share, basically no taxes in the way, and made an unthinkable profit. But, of course, the family’s patrons weren’t quite as blind as Vaña expected them to be, and an impending raid by the mercenaries was unavoidable. ...and Putting on the Noose In the early days of 2182, the Suns’ forces arrived and wreaked havoc. Dozens of guards and workers were killed, many millions of credits worth of Minagen X3 were taken, and Vaña was injured and captured after having managed to at least down two mercenaries. It was Givi’s kidnapping all over again, but this time, the Suns wouldn’t be quite as forgiving. The first time, fourteen years ago, her brother’s tracker simply stopped transmitting after the Suns had taken him far enough away, but obviously, they were aware that Vaña’s tracker had been upgraded since then. And having to somehow stop the device that had been implanted under her right forearm’s upper plate from working, the only tools they saw fit to do the job were a hefty knife and a pair of pliers. Having been taken to a small prison ship in an unknown system, Vaña was kept there for five days on a diet of the lowest-grade quarian nutrient paste and water, but knowing that there was barely anything the Blue Suns could do to her, she decided to stay as calm as she possibly could and simply wait out her release. If they had wanted to kill her, they would have long had the chance, and since she knew nothing the Suns hadn’t already known, there was no point in torturing her, so the only possible reason they were still keeping her was to strike some kind of deal with her father. And obviously, it wouldn’t be a very beneficial deal to the family, but Vaña knew, or at least believed, that she’d find a way to negate its effects, and, at some point, pay the Suns back for what they had done to her and her newly-founded enterprise. And so, on the fifth day of her imprisonment, Vaña was returned to her family on Triginta Petra, the gunshot in her calf and the wound on her arm having been half-assedly medi-gel’d back together by the Suns. While being taken to the family’s personal doctor, she learned of the conditions of the deal, which weren’t too far away from what she had imagined. 90% of the family’s income would flow in the Suns’ pockets from now on, and then something about the usual ‘if you betray us again’ bullshit. What Vaña was dead sure of, however, was that this most certainly wasn’t the last time she would betray them, though it was the last time she would let them find out. She had learned from her mistakes - far too obvious mistakes, honestly - and she would make sure her family got the money they deserved, without the Suns ever knowing about it. Live and Learn The plan was already there - that was the easy part, but the execution would take a bit of time. The biggest one of her mistakes so far had been privacy. Everyone with a good pair of binoculars had the ability to peek right into her base of operations, and it hadn’t taken long until people found out who was running it, so it had only been a matter of time until the Suns came knocking. What Vaña needed was something much more secretive, much more remote - on a planet, in a system, in an entire region no one had on their radar, maybe one no one even knew existed. Problem was, virtually everything in range of an active mass relay had already been extensively mapped, so the only option was going beyond the existing relays. And since that was hardly achieved alone, she had to set up a team, which was easier said than done. Since a whole bunch of professionals were needed, not all of which the family’s business could offer, Vaña went to great lengths to create a fake career for herself, looking through schools, universities and companies that would make a certain ‘Vanencara Adrevis’ appear in their records for a little cash bonus. In the end, after she managed to officially become a junior manager at Novkadi Chemical Solutions and piece together a convincing background, she put up a simple, anonymous extranet offer, looking for applicants from various fields of expertise for a “never before imagined” exploration project. The only thing specified was a time, date, and a meeting point in Nos Astra - somewhat ominous, sure, but the people who would actually bite were the perfect applicants for her undertaking. But as the day arrived, one person stood out from the few other “applicants” - a certain agent from something he called the “Holun-Myeri Exploratory Fund”. And he would make her plans so much easier... Personality If you were asked to describe Vaña in one word - go with manipulative. Unfortunately, while being the most accurate way to describe her, it’s not the most useful one, since people as manipulative as her have a whole range of personalities to choose from. Boiling her down to her core, however, reveals her to be a surprisingly ‘decent’ person at first glance. She has a rather calm attitude, rarely letting the dangers and problems of her job get the best of her, but that might just be a basic requirement of being a successful drug trafficker, just like her unique sense of honor. Loyalty is virtually at the top of her list of attributes someone needs to possess, which explains why those that actually are loyal to Vaña get a surprisingly generous treatment. Those who aren’t, however, simply need to be moved out of the way of those who are. What that means, you can picture yourself. In her eyes, everyone should get what they deserve, so if there’s anything she can do to make that happen, she will go to great lengths to help the spirits of karma out, whether someone saved a kid from a burning building or tortured and killed one of her employees. So it might not even surprise you that doing whatever is best for her family and those who are loyal to her is Vaña’s main priority. The fact that she believes herself to be immensely important to her family, being the supposedly most charismatic person in her circle, is surely just an interesting byproduct of that. Either way, so long as she can rule out the chance that someone is working for the Blue Suns, law enforcement, or some other organization that could become dangerous to her family, Vaña actually has a relatively optimistic opinion of the people she meets. However, she is also relatively quick to judge, so if someone isn’t at least on a decent behavior with her, it’s likely they’re going to get about as much respect from her as a leaky bag of red sand. That doesn’t mean she isn’t willing to walk across corpses to get to her goal, though. As long as the result is worth it, the ends almost always justify the means. That, on the other hand, means she has a tendency to stay quiet about what her goals actually are, how she plans to reach them, or generally anything that could compromise her plans and her family’s safety. After all, being as decisive as she is, making sure nothing gets in the way of her plans is something Vaña values greatly. Those that know her personally, however, might name other, more personal values of her. Honesty, trust, directness… Actually, her directness most certainly isn’t something only those close to her notice, but the great value she puts on it is something relatively unique. Another thing not only her closest relatives get to experience is her interestingly dry sense of humor. One will be hard pressed to try and get anything more than a mild smile or smirk out of her, although the most hilarious of jokes might even net you a chuckle. That, however, isn’t to say that she can’t fake a good laugh, or anything that helps her deal with anyone she doesn’t know well, for that matter. In any case, considering her actual personality, those that have had the time to get to know Vaña personally, would not be surprised in the least if they found out she was not, in fact, a way too intricately named manager at a chemical company. Physical Description Barely out of the ordinary in terms of height and build, Vaña doesn’t have too many distinguishing features that would paint her as the daughter of a small-time drug lord. Her especially pale plates are, granted, somewhat rare, but not rare enough to warrant a second look. Neither are her colony markings, which, while as well at least somewhat extraordinary, belong to one of the many small colonies not even most turians could name off the top of their head. All in all, “mysterious” would be a better fit than “suspicious”, at least for those not in the know. Those who are, might even be able to connect the tattoos to the tiny colony of Triginta Petra, which employs almost a quarter of its inhabitants in the drug trafficking business, but then again, the vast majority of those workers are just that - workers, people no government would really take a second glance at. Disregarding her background for a while, Vanencara could be described as at least somewhat good-looking, although not everyone finds the contrast between her blood red markings and lime green eyes all that appealing. Her relatively long mandibles are one other feature that’s often notable to others, although they fit the rest of her sharp facial features perfectly well, something that at least seems to be in line with her occupation. Not caring a massive amount about fashion, Vaña rarely stands out from the rest in that department either. When out in public, medium-length turian and asari-oriented dresses or robes that slot in somewhere between elegant and comfortable will usually do, with her main colors ranging all the way from black to white, sometimes taking a detour towards more lively colors like oranges and reds. Various extravagant turian cloths and scarves have never been her thing, however. The different kinds of jewelry used to round off one’s outfit are foreign to her, too, although, when the situation allows it, Vaña will sometimes wear small, black elastic bands around the back of her mandibles, claiming they’re useful for handling old paper money. In reality, they’re purely aesthetic. At home or at “work”, on the other hand, Vaña usually prefers comfortable attire, from casual turian tunics to human shirts. After all, Minagen is hardly handled in robes. No matter what she’s wearing, however, Vaña always carries herself with a certain mix of pride and leisure. Still, if the circumstances require it, she can put on a more arrogant, relaxed, or threatening attitude, usually with decent success of not looking entirely fake. Armament Vanencara carries with her an M-77 Paladin heavy pistol into combat, outfitted with blocks of Shredder Ammunition. Her omni-tool is prepped with the combat abilities Ballistic Blades, Invasion and Neural Shock. Category:Characters Category:Turians Category:Criminals Category:Explorers Category:Holun-Myeri Exploratory Fund Category:Nortaro Cartel Category:Novkadi Chemical Solutions